You gotta love Bobby!!!

It?s no secret that Boba Fett has such meaning to Star Wars fans and although had limited screen time stands out as one of the most popular characters in the SW universe.
I remember wanting him as a kid and next to the falcon (of course) thought he had the coolest ship, I also remember there was a promotion where you could get a Boba Fett action figure with a missile that would launch out of his backpack if you sent in a handful of proof-of-purchase seals from other Star Wars toys. How cool was that?

I think his relative lack of screen time contributes to his popularity. The attractions of Boba Fett in his initial appearance are easy to explain - he's a bounty hunter, he has a jet pack and cool weapons and gadgets and special armor and of course you don't know who he is or what he looks like. It is a constant in film that there is a great appeal to the loner particularly when it comes to the bounty hunter. Look at the popularity of the Spaghetti Westerns of the 60's which shot Clint Eastwood's fame.
Fett's role in Episode V seems to set him up as an important character. He's got a name, a signature space ship, he flies off with Solo in custody, something the Empire continued to fail to do.
Maybe he's the nemesis to Han Solo, a villain second only to Darth Vader and you are pretty disappointed when he disappears down the maw of the Sarlacc.
It's that initial attraction and contradiction of his relative unimportance in the first series that makes you notice and focus on Boba Fett, and why he keeps getting written in to the expanded Star Wars universe (and why he's such an iconic figure in things like the Robot Chicken parodies, which really play up the contradiction of his character).

The rule is and always will be 'If you love Star Wars it follows you have to love Boba Fett'

 

"something the Empire continued to fail to do."

When? They were never after Solo. If you're talking about that ONE occasion when the Falcon escaped in ANH, that was deliberate as they had a homing beacon on the ship. Why do you say they "continued to fail" to get Solo?

 

Yeah, Fett may have tracked the Falcon to Bespin (or more accurately, correctly predicted their destination), but Vader and his stormtroopers captured them. Then when Vader was done using Solo as bait and as a test of the carbon freezing facilities, he gave Solo to Fett to take him to Jabba the Hutt.

 

Solo did escape from the Avenger, and only Fett saw through Solo's actions, he deserves credit for that.
Though maybe he should have just asked Vader if he'd get his fee if he told him where the Falcon was then just point at it

 

My first thought at seeing the thread's title:

"Huh? What did I do to deserve a thread dedicated to me- in the Classic Trilogy forum, of all places? "

Since, y'know, that happens to be my name and all.

Joking aside, I actually always laughed as a kid when he went down the Sarlacc. Probably because it belched, and I found (and continue to find) gas as a source of endless amusement.

...yes, I've got a juvenile sense of humor.

 

Boba Fett is hands down my favorite villian in cinematic history.

More love for the Fett-man.

 

Boba Fett is a lame loser who got lucky in garbage one day.

Jango would be ashamed, and rightfully so. Now he is a badass worthy of all the praise a fandom can summon.

 

He was just a wanna-be, and weaker version of this guy.

 

Hey now Block, i started that thread and Boba Fett is my favorite character. though i see your point (obviously). There are many awesome one-shot characters that don't get the crazy recognition Fett does.

I will rise to Bobas defense when it comes to Jango somehow being 'cooler'. What makes Boba awesome is his mystery and unique place in the galaxy (and in EU i like his use of a code of honor, however i prefer him more on the anti-villain side than the anti-hero side). When you make him the clone of a guy who wears the same armor of an entire race, it definitely hurts that individuality. So to me, Jango is everything wrong with the depictions of Boba i don't like, and a great example of the prequels screwing over the OT.

Boba was a calm and cool fringe space cowboy, and now he's a slightly emo clone. Hell, they even took all his code of honor stuff and said he took it from Jango. Jango absolutely butchers Boba into a shell of what he once was. Though i think it's probably worse when they put him behind Jabba in the special edition of ANH, it makes him look like Jabba's lackey, instead of a freelance hunter.

And his death in the sarlaac seems so odd to me, they knew he was a popular character, they played him up so much in ESB, and then he's just dead, in a comedic scene. I wouldn't have minded him dying in that film, just not as comic relief. Maybe they could have had him track the rebels to Endor or something (as a minor thing), and he could have gone down in a fight with solo. Or maybe something a lot smaller. But something else.

 

Yeah, Boba was only cool as long as people could make up **** about him. Everything we didn't see made him seem cool. As soon as the blanks were filled in, everyone's image of him was destroyed; an image they made up themselves.

Jango had the burden of Fettness on him before he even appeared and still came out on top once he was finished messing with the Jedi for over half a movie. Oh yeah.

 

Visually Boba Fett is breathtaking and you can't help but remain curious about this character who has so little screen time. However like it was already mentioned you have to delve in the EU to see what really makes him so BA.

I think what made me want to know more about Fett was when Vader pointed his finger and said "And no disintegrations!".

 

See, I never quite got what was so great about Fett, seem to get this great fanclub, for but a few shots in the movies, the final one being ungloriously launched into a Sarlacc

 

I completely understand the cult following he generated - the mystery & moral ambiguity of the character made him somewhat unique in the SW universe, and what miniscule backstory was revealed connected him to the Clone Wars we all wanted to know about.

Plus, the 12-inch action figure with all of its features & accessories blew the rest of the range out of the water.

It's the later overexposure as the 1990s EU got going, leading to his inclusion in the ANH SE, which seemed to cause the backlash. Bound to happen. We scream for more, they give us more, we whinge that it's too much.

I still like the character, curious to see what happens in TCW. No, don't tell me, I'm still on Season 2, don't ruin it.

 

Not to mention that the original version of the regular figure could actually shoot your eye out.